avoid the danger. The Countryman, suspecting that the divining Bird heard his commands, said to the Boy; "If I say, give me a cake, do you secretly hand me a stone." The Crane came again; he bade the Boy give him a cake, but the Boy gave him a stone, with which he hit the Crane, and broke her legs. The Crane, on being wounded, said; "Prophetic Crow, where now are your auspices? Why did you not hasten to warn your companion, as you swore you would, that no such evil might befall me?" The Crow made answer; "It is not my art that deserves to be blamed; but the purposes of double-tongued people are so deceiving, who say one thing and do another."
The Crane, the Crow, and the Countryman
A Crane and a Crow had made a league on oath, that the Crane
should protect the Crow against the Birds, and that the Crow should
foretell the future, so that the Crane might be on her guard.
After this, on their frequently flying into the fields of a certain
Countryman, and tearing up by the roots what had been sown, the
owner of the field saw it, and being vexed, cried out; Give me
a stone, Boy, that I may hit the Crane." When the Crow heard
this, at once she warned the Crane, who took all due precaution.
On another day, too, the Crow hearing him ask for a stone, again
warned the Crane carefully to
